5 Jan 2012

Injury ends Lisicki's title run

Injury ends Lisicki's title run

Top seed Sabine Lisicki has retired in her quarterfinal match with fellow German  Angelique Kerber due to a left abdominal injury.

Lisicki took a medical time out in the second set, and left court to get treatment. She had lost the first set to Kerber 6-4 and was battling in the second set at 3-4 when she told the chair umpire she couldn't continue.

"I have something with my abdominals it hurts when I serve," she said during the post-match press conference. "I kept fighting. I tried it. Unfortunately couldn't finish."

Lisicki said the injury actually happened during the warmup that she felt when serving. "I hope it's nothing too bad. I hope I'll recover quickly and  that a couple of days off will be enough. I'm just hoping for the best."

Not a stranger to injury, the German said she's had this left abdominal injury before. "I knew if I pushed it too much it would take two weeks to recover," she said. She will see a doctor tomorrow and determine whether or not she can play in Sydney next week as planned.

But Lisicki said being back in Auckland again was great. "I love playing here. The crowd is very supportive and it's so much fun to play here."

The world #15 had already pulled out of the doubles tourney at the ASB Classic with cramping issues in her left calf muscle after her win yesterday against Mona Barthel.

Kerber now faces #4 seed Flavia Pennetta, who easily dispatched Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-2 in the first match of the day. The two last met in the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2011, a match Kerber won.

Zheng Jie of China continued her great run and advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2 6-3 win over Czech Lucie Hradecka and will face either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Sara Errani.

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